Domestic abuse campaign: Peterborough pilot scheme to support victims to be rolled out nationwide

A pioneering toolkit developed by domestic abuse charity Standing Together, along with its partners, has been trialled in three areas including Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and has helped to provide vital services to survivors.

The 30 month, government-funded pilot project called the Whole Housing Approach has been targeted at responses to domestic abuse within housing, with the new toolkit offering practical guidance and resources to local areas to deliver a consistent approach to tackling domestic abuse.

The toolkit was the culmination of the pilot project which has seen six specialist domestic abuse organisations, as well as a civil society organisation, working with 10 local authority areas to provide domestic abuse initiatives and practices across a range of accommodation settings and tenure types (social, private rented and privately owned).

Some of these initiatives already exist while others are being introduced to England for the first time.

For people experiencing domestic abuse the home is often the most dangerous place. On average, two women are killed by their partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales and 75 per cent are killed in their own home.

Safe and stable housing is a core need for victims/survivors and yet it can be the most difficult need to meet. Many victims/survivors (rather than perpetrators) are often expected to re-locate to different accommodation and bear the costs of starting over in order to be safe.

A lack of affordable, longer term housing in many areas is a major barrier to escaping and factors strongly into a victim/survivor’s decision making about whether to leave a perpetrator.

The Whole Housing Approach and the toolkit aims to change this by:

. Creating earlier identification and intervention for domestic abuse through mobilising social and private landlords and key institutions involved in private ownership

. Reducing the number of people who are made homeless as a result of domestic abuse

. Increasing tenancy options so that people experiencing domestic abuse can remain safely in their home when it is their choice to do so or do not lose their tenancy status if they re-locate. This includes social housing landlords taking action to remove perpetrators from properties through enforcement where appropriate and safe to do so.

Nicole Jacobs, Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, said: “Preventing and ending domestic abuse must be everybody’s business.

“For people experiencing domestic abuse the home is often the most dangerous place. On average, two women are killed by their partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales and 75 per cent are killed in their own home.

“The housing sector has an absolutely critical role to play in tackling this issue. Frontline housing teams going in and out of people’s homes come into direct contact with survivors and perpetrators every day and are therefore uniquely placed to identify physical, financial and coercive abuse.

“The pioneering toolkit, which offers practical guidance and resources to local areas to deliver a consistent approach to tackling domestic abuse, developed by Standing Together and its partners, is key to helping victims to stay safe.

“I am delighted that the toolkit which was piloted in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire will now be rolled out across the country.”

The toolkit can be viewed at: https://www.dahalliance.org.uk/what-we-do/whole-housing-approach/whole-housing-toolkit/.

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